Speed Limiters

No national speed limits. Let the states make their own speed laws and enforce them. What we have isn't broken and doesn't require fixing.

 

It was mentioned already but they're legislating to the lowest common denominator. A lot of the guys on the road now and even more coming out of school can't responsibly handle a truck at speed. Look at the professions that are moving forward in this country and they all have 1 thing in common, they are policing themselves in leu of government regulation. We have failed to police ourselves so we're at a point where the government needs to step in. I don't like it because I have a fair understanding of the use of the throttle pedal in an ungoverned truck but so many people fail at that, now we need some sort of regulation to control them. It's the same with E-logs because that's what we've let it turn into, somebody needs to police us because we won't police ourselves. If we could change the tides as far as what and who we allow to enter the profession we could prevent a significant amount of legislation but we don't and it would be no small feat to do so. It would take a common vision of what trucking should be including the trainers at the mega carriers and getting rid of anyone that doesn't fulfill that vision. At this point we're nearly too far gone to ever right the ship ourselves so the government needs to intervene.

 

I've spoken to a guy up here in Canada who claims he played a little prank on the Ontario DOT folks when they decided to plug his truck in to see if his speed limiter was set. He said he moved his real ECM port so it was tucked up under the dash, and replaced it with one that was wired to deliver 110 volts at 30 amps off his inverter to their ECM reader. Zzzzzzzt POOF and out comes the magic smoke, followed by him screaming at the guy "What the ____ did you do to my truck?!?!?!? I want a supervisor NOW and if you fried my computer I will blah blah blah". Dunno if it's true, you know how we gossip and bs around, but if true, GENIUS.

 

Wether we like it or not governed trucks is a must to protect ourself from some of ours working colleague who wouldn't know what to do with a wide open truck.

I live in Quebec and governed truck to a speed of 65MPH is silly, it is creating lot's of highly potential dangerous situations on the road.

I have seen truck that run 00.0009 MPH than others blocking left lane for miles because they so badly need to be in front....go figure!

Also creating road rage with 4 wheelers who doesn't understand why is the #### big truck is trying to pass a 4 wheelers that can't maintain a steady speed.

If we really have to be governed, we should be governed to the highest speed limit jurisdiction that the truck is plated for.

Then it would be to the companies to implemented a fuel bonus system to slow down their drivers, that way the companies would benefit in fuel economy and the drivers would be compensated for being cautious.

 

It baffles me how many people....truck drivers included don't understand. Everyone says what you just said....i.e.

Q1. "why does the guy need to pass when he is only .00001 mph faster?" or,

Q2. "Why doesn't the driver in the right lane lift so the guy can complete the pass?".

A1. because he is faster on the hills and he needs to get around but the hill isn't long enough to complete the pass

A2. Because if the heavier truck that is now traveling at 65 mph lifts then all the trucks behind him will get screwed up and then they will all pull out to pass.

It's just a completely effed up idea that is causing fatal rear end collisions because drivers are tailgating each other. They tailgate because if they leave any space the truck that is in the left lane will want to get in and then you have to lift.

It is EXACTLY like a restrictor plate race and we see what happened there. It causes wrecks and puts drivers in danger. The only "safe" way to drive a truck on the 4 lane is to drive at 50-55 mph so that everyone else is always pulling away from you. It;s the Smith System on vallium.

In ON this law has been successfully challenged several times but all have lost on appeal. It's been successfully challenged on grounds that the static charge from the reader may fry the ECM, it's been successfully challenged on grounds that it violates the constitutional rights and puts drivers lives in danger "because the driver needs to accellerate to get out of trouble".

Accellerating to get out of trouble isn't a compelling argument IMO. I say it's a work place health and safety issue due to tailgating and getting cut off.. No judge will ever understand however. The only way to challenge this is to show the judge video of what happens including fwd and rear facing cameras.

 

I don't understand you guys who claim we need this to self regulate ourselves or the government needs to step in and regulate it. That is such a bogus statement. Speeding trucks are not a problem out here. I drive around 72-75 all day in rural areas then stick to the posted speed limit in urban areas. I very rarely get passed by other o/o. In fact without fail almost every day none ever passes me nor even runs the same speed as me. The problem I see is when I am in downtown Nashvillr, or Knoxville, or some area where the posted speed limit is 55 mph. It never fails the speeders are always guys in governed trucks running 63-65 mph up against that governer. They'd run over their grandmother instead of backing out of the go pedal. All we really need here is enforcement of current laws. You guys remind me of the nannies who want to grab guns.

 

It's the old, if I can't do it then neither should you.

 

Imagine if these speeders had a wide open truck....

I don't like the idea of being governed but some drivers just doesn't have what it takes to comprehend the wide open thing.

 

Don't have a dog in this fight but at least mine is gov at 69 close to the speed limit on the I's

 

Exactly...this and more is not a Federal issue like so much of the progressive democrat crap being shoved down our throats. Slow trucks are dangerous. There is nothing more annoying than 62mph truck in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway. Get your slow piece of crap in the right lane where you belong! Every 5 mph faster saves you 30 minutes every day. A trucker not doing the maximum amount of miles isn't making the maximum amount of money.

BTW.. beating the ECM would be easy. Just change the speed sensor calibration. The ECM will think it's set at 65mph when you are really doing 75mph. Impossible to enforce. For every new law that comes down the road, I'll come with 2 or 3 ways around it and I'll be near impossible to catch. On the other hand, if they were to compare my ECM data with my GPS data..I'm busted. Bet there is a way to hack GPS data too.